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I really feel like yearly I’m wanting ahead to the winter till it really begins to occur. Just as quickly as the primary actual chill units in and it’s time to transition away from mid-weight peacoats to full-on winter coats, it hits me — can I do an entire season of this?
We’re not going to Mexico this winter. We missed the cats an excessive amount of final 12 months, and likewise realized that it doesn’t make sense to go away in January, certainly one of our busiest work months of the 12 months.
Instead, a Prague winter. Walks by way of parks full of barren timber. Evening snuggles with kittens and cups of tea. Doing all errands by 3:30 PM because the solar is down shortly after. A wanted season of quiet.
But there is no such thing as a such factor as unhealthy climate — solely unhealthy garments. And with that, I dug out my Uniqlo thermals for the season. I could have purchased them for my journey to Antarctica in 2018, however they’re equally helpful when looking European Christmas markets.
And we’re already making tentative plans to go to Sicily for per week or so in February. Having a little bit of sunshine to sit up for makes all of the distinction.
Destinations Visited
Prague, Czech Republic
Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal
Reading, Beverly, Woburn, Braintree, and Lynnfield, Massachusetts
Tamworth, North Conway, Jackson, Wolfeboro, Loudon, Manchester, and Salem, New Hampshire
Highlights
A stunning weekend getaway to Lisbon. Charlie and I made a decision to fulfill up for a number of days after his firm’s staff assembly in Sevilla and earlier than I flew to Boston. A fantastic thought! I hadn’t been to Lisbon in about 10 years, throughout which I used to be a particularly low-budget backpacker.
It was so good spending time with my Lisbon buds, attempting out scrumptious eating places and hitting up wine bars. The climate wasn’t the best, however the metropolis was invigorating.
We additionally spent a day in Sintra — an uncharacteristically foggy afternoon in Sintra! We didn’t go all out on exploration, however wandered round and acquired to see a number of of the palaces.
And I had some ideas. Lisbon and Prague have an identical price of residing. But I believe issues are typically extra organized and work significantly better in Prague. Then once more, Lisbon has way more sunshine. How would you worth that trade-off?
Fun instances in Prague. My first-ever go to to the Narodni Museum (National Museum), and the spotlight for me was its cool assortment of rocks and minerals. And in the future the climate was superbly sunny and foggy on the identical time, which made for uncommon photographs!
A pleasant journey house for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see my household and have all of the meals, spend time with associates, and I acquired QUITE quite a few errands completed over that weeklong journey!
My twentieth highschool reunion. 20 years!! I can’t consider it’s been that lengthy. But it was an amazing occasion. We had about 80 individuals there, and it was nice catching up with everybody. It’s at all times a nice shock to learn the way a lot of my classmates learn my weblog!
This was additionally my first time masking at a big indoor occasion the place just about everybody was unmasked. I didn’t desire a repeat of the convention a number of months in the past the place dozens of individuals acquired COVID.
My good friend Beth and I have been the one ones in masks (we did take them off for photographs), and actually, it was no large deal. Well-worth hedging towards long-term COVID injury.
A enjoyable New Hampshire day with my dad. I needed to cowl some vacation occasions this 12 months on the New Hampshire website, so we attended the Jingle Bell Chocolate Tour in Jackson and the Gift of Lights in Loudon, plus gallivanting to the Moat Mountain Brewery, North Conway, Chocorua Lake, Tamworth Distilling, and Lone Wolfe Brewery (which I had lengthy needed to cowl on my New Hampshire Breweries information).
Finding wedding ceremony footwear. I used to be dreading the marriage shoe search, since a bout with tendinitis 15 years in the past has left me needing good arch help always. And formal footwear with good arch help are robust to search out.
Well, what have you learnt…I discovered a pair of gold wedges lined with rhinestones for simply $49.99 at DSW! They aren’t orthotic, however they’ll do exactly wonderful!
I additionally acquired my wedding ceremony earrings (tremendous glamorous and dangly to go along with the Old Hollywood vibes), a hair comb, a beaded white purse (why not?), and Charlie and I settled on the bridesmaid colours: 5 dusty, dreamy lilacs and blues.
I did my hair and make-up trial for the Boston wedding ceremony, which I believed was early at eight months out, till my artist instructed me she has some individuals do it a 12 months or extra out (which appears insane). I employed the identical artist who did my sister’s hair and make-up for her wedding ceremony in September. It’s so nice to have somebody who will get your imaginative and prescient and runs with it.
Challenges
Getting a chilly close to the tip of my time in Massachusetts. Thankfully not COVID this time. Just grossness.
The Gift of Lights was…odd. One of the vacation occasions in New Hampshire I needed to cowl was the Gift of Lights, a present on the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. You drive onto the speedway and drive by way of plenty of gentle shows, together with tunnels.
First off, we did it within the rain, which technically might nonetheless be okay, although not optimum. While this allowed us to drive by way of the course at a a lot sooner fee than traditional, this course was extremely complicated with none drivers there! We couldn’t determine the place to show quite a lot of the time. And the lights? They have been…wonderful. Displays within the form of Santa and stuff.
I do know quite a lot of NH individuals love taking their youngsters to Gift of Lights yearly. If that’s your factor, go for it! For me? I’d relatively drive to a elaborate neighborhood that goes all out on decorations.
Blog Posts of the Month
Are the Vök Baths Iceland’s Best Geothermal Spa? — The Vök Baths have been my favourite thermal spa in Iceland! This place continues to be fairly new, so I extremely suggest checking it out in the event you’re driving the Ring Road.
24 Fabulous Things to Do in Sayulita, Mexico — I really like the social gathering seashore city of Sayulita, and I believe it’s an particularly good vacation spot for elder millennials! Here’s why it makes an amazing place to go to over the winter.
A Guide to the Gorgeous Tröllaskagi Peninsula, North Iceland — Want a very spectacular detour from the Ring Road? Check out Tröllaskagi, a peninsula lined with jagged mountains, cute small cities, a superb swimming pool overlooking a fjord, and maybe the very best museum in Iceland, the Herring Era Museum.
This Month on Patreon
On the Adventurous Kate Patreon, I publish unique content material and never-told tales you could entry for $6 monthly. We even have a non-public Facebook group and members get free entry to the Book Club every month.
So…this month, would you prefer to see some wedding ceremony clothes? You’ll see some wedding ceremony clothes!
I didn’t put up my precise wedding ceremony costume, however I wrote a put up sharing a number of of the marriage clothes I attempted on that DID NOT make the lower for varied causes. Quite a lot of the wacky ones from BHLDN.
Book Club This Month
I’m holding off on the following e book membership till late January, attributable to everybody having busy vacation schedules. I’ll let you recognize after we’re able to go.
New Hampshire Way Update
I anticipated that this may be a sluggish month on New Hampshire Way, my New Hampshire journey website, and for essentially the most half this was correct. Foliage season led to mid-October, and November is type of the center floor earlier than the vacations kick into gear.
Covering vacation actions is a giant precedence of mine, for each advert causes (highest advert charges of the 12 months are in December) and since so a lot of New Hampshire’s largest vacation occasions have scant on-line protection at greatest.
So I revealed my information to Christmas actions in New Hampshire in 2022, and proper now it’s the highest put up on New Hampshire Way and ranks #1 on Google for “Christmas in New Hampshire”!
Two new posts this month that you could be get pleasure from: 27 Incredible New Hampshire Cabins with Hot Tubs (sure, we went by way of the record rigorously to ensure every of those cabins really has a great scorching tub) and Best Bakeries in Portsmouth, NH (together with certainly one of my favorites, Popovers on the Square).
But you recognize what’s going wild? My information to New Hampshire water parks. Because actually everyone seems to be googling “indoor water parks in New Hampshire” proper now!
And I’m excited that my subsequent cost from Mediavine, the January cost, will embrace New Hampshire Way income for the primary time!
What I Listened To This Month
I like Leslie Jones — and she or he now has a podcast! It’s referred to as The Fckry (The Fuckery) and it’s fabulous; the podcast format was made for her.
And the episode that she did with the Pod Save America guys proper earlier than the midterms might be the toughest I’ve ever laughed at a podcast. I used to be the weirdo strolling across the neighborhood and randomly bursting into laughter ever few steps.
I received’t give something away, however it’s effectively value a pay attention, even post-midterms!
What I Watched This Month
The Crown. Not fairly completed with the season but, however it’s at all times unbelievable. The new forged is nice, however Dominic West is WAY too scorching to credibly play Prince Charles (and actually, Charles will get fairly a optimistic edit this season).
The episode about Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend made me sob. They cherished one another a lot, might by no means be collectively, and by no means stopped loving one another, even of their last years.
And this month I used to be launched to Below Deck. My fiancé Charlie can’t stand actuality TV…however he instantly acquired massively into this actuality present in regards to the crew who work on luxurious constitution yachts, and acquired me to observe it with him. Apparently there are 1,000,000 totally different spin-offs around the globe.
I completely love all the main points of the background work the crew do for company, each the fantastic company and the troublesome ones. Not a lot into the interpersonal drama. But I’m positive we’ll proceed following way more of this actuality present!
What I Read This Month
We are coming to the conclusion of my slowest studying 12 months prior to now decade, I’m sorry to say. At first I wasn’t positive tips on how to cope with this, however now I’m way more at peace with it contemplating that I’ve used the spare time to construct a whole new web site (New Hampshire Way). Here’s what I learn this month:
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney (2022) — Comedian Rob Delaney’s two-year-old son Henry died of a mind tumor a number of years in the past. This is the story of Henry’s life, his sickness, and the which means of all of it. And that is not like any grief memoir you’ve ever learn. It tells Henry’s story in a round narrative and is commonly laugh-out-loud humorous, stuffed with rage, and quietly devastating, usually all on the identical time.
What an unbelievable e book — my favourite of the 12 months. Rob is among the creators and writers of Catastrophe, and in the event you’ve seen it, you recognize that he’s a grasp of blending comedy with darkish, far-too-real relationship moments. This e book is trustworthy and visceral in a method that I discovered actually comforting.
I’m grateful to Rob, and grateful to Henry. They’ve left a mark upon me endlessly.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014) — This post-apocalyptic novel opens 20 years after a pandemic killed off 99.9% of the inhabitants. Kirsten is a performer with the Traveling Symphony, a gaggle that performs Shakespeare and classical music to settlements scattered across the Great Lakes area. Soon they encounter a harmful prophet. The story flips forwards and backwards in time, connecting a string of characters.
Quite a lot of post-apocalyptic books scare and upset me (none extra so than Cormac McCarthy’s The Road), however this e book was so totally different. It was uplifting. It was mild. It left me hopeful, even within the face of a lot horror. You know an creator is presented when she’s in a position to do this!
I’m so excited to dive into extra of Emily St. John Mandel’s books and even completed Sea of Tranquility in early December. And Station Eleven has change into a miniseries on HBO. I’m excited to dive into that, too.
An Ocean Apart by Sarah Lee (2022) — The 12 months is 1954 and sisters Connie and Ruby have set out on a steamship from Barbados to England, the place they’ll practice to be nurses for the newly fashioned NHS. Together with their good friend Billie, newly arrived from Jamaica, the younger ladies soar headfirst into their new lives.
My good friend Sarah wrote this e book, and I’m so glad for her! She primarily based a lot of the e book on her mom’s migration from Barbados to England. This time interval is known as the Windrush Generation, the mid-century time interval when many Caribbeans immigrated to Britain to rebuild following World War II.
I cherished these three ladies and their tales as they wrestle with work, love, and acclimating to a totally new nation — and I knew nothing about this technology and second in time. It was so good to spend time with them.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry (2022) — The world knew that Matthew Perry struggled with dependancy for a lot of his time on Friends — however the fact was a lot darker. In this memoir, he tells a narrative of his lifelong loneliness that led to alcohol and prescription drug abuse, resulting in detox after detox and rehab after rehab.
Okay. This e book acquired quite a lot of press, not all of it optimistic. Here’s what I believe: you’ll end this e book figuring out that dependancy is a illness and a few individuals, like him, are predisposed to a horrible, terrible model of it. I really feel for him.
And the unhealthy. Yes, he wished the beloved Keanu Reeves was lifeless as an alternative of River Phoenix, which was crude and extremely ill-advised, contemplating how shut Keanu and River have been and the way destroyed Keanu was by his dying. I critically marvel how an editor allowed that to occur.
But past that, I hated how Perry talked about ladies. He noticed each lady as a possible conquest. They have been at all times heart-stoppingly lovely, and so they wouldn’t give him the time of day, and he can be upset. I believe the one time he mentioned one thing a few lady that wasn’t about her seems was when he briefly talked about that Lisa Kudrow was “smart.” That was it.
This was in all probability the one most bitter e book I’ve learn. He claims to be sober now. More than something, I need him to be. But I’m not satisfied he’s.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub (2022) — Alice is about to show 40 and is feeling mediocre about her life — her relationship is a dud, her job is a dead-end, and her father is ailing within the hospital. But on the night time of her birthday, she finds herself transported again to her sixteenth birthday, alongside her vibrant 40-something father, and she or he realizes she has the possibility to do issues over.
I loved this e book. As a lot because it’s a time journey fantasy, it’s actually extra about Alice’s relationship along with her father and the issues she learns by touring in time (repeatedly). And this can be a GREAT e book about New York City. Alice’s childhood house is on Pomander Walk, this pretty little pedestrian-only road on the Upper West Side lined with fascinating houses.
Coming Up in December 2022
It’s Christmas market time! You guys know I’m nuts for Christmas in Europe, whilst somebody who’s not too into Christmas in America. It’s simply 1,000,000 instances higher right here. Gluhwein, sausage, gingerbread, and good cheer with out the strain to spend plenty of cash
And many cities haven’t had Christmas markets since 2019. Markets within the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany all closed on the final minute in 2021 attributable to Omicron (although I did squeeze in a go to to the Budapest Christmas Markets, which stayed open). And after all, every thing was closed in 2020.
So I’m excited to get all Christmassy once more. Charlie and I are planning a weekend practice journey to Vienna, a metropolis we’ve each visited many instances, however by no means for Christmas. Vienna has a few of the greatest Christmas markets in Europe.
Beyond that, I would squeeze in a day journey to Dresden or an in a single day journey to Nuremburg, two of the very best German Christmas markets. That’s a giant possibly, however who is aware of? And, after all, the Prague Christmas markets are again!
We plan to rejoice Friendsmas in model at our favourite restaurant and residential away from house, Kantyna, at certainly one of their decadent Dinner Off the Bone occasions. This 12 months Charlie and I might be spending the precise Christmas vacation in London together with his household, then coming house for New Year’s.
What are you as much as this month? Share away!
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